Publisher column: Finding happiness in an odd place

By Randy Capps

As I sit in front of my computer for the monthly ritual of writing this column, I’m struck by how different my life is than it was just a few short weeks ago.

On July 20, we hosted Johnston Now Honors. It was a fabulous night, during which we honored a bunch of deserving folks. To use a journalism cliche, a good time was had by all.

It was also the last “normal” day I can remember.

Since that night, we’ve had a staff member and dear family friend pass away, another staff member join the Army and four family bouts with COVID (Shanna liked it so much, she went twice). We’ve also launched a local sports site, started a weekly live stream and found a multitude of other ways to complicate our already Gordian-knot-like lives.

The winds of change have been more like a hurricane, and it’s been enough to make me dizzy.

That’s one of the reasons the family Christmas tree went up on Labor Day. It brings me joy, and I’m taking that wherever I can these days.

As Sun Tzu wrote, “opportunities multiply as they are seized.” I think that works for happiness, too.

Life is too short to live it any other way.